Thursday, July 2, 2009

Well, perhaps a three week stand. And you can enjoy it even more with a renewal.

Borrowing cookbooks from the library is a great way to give a new book a spin around the kitchen before any commitment.

This happened with Donna Hay's Simple Essentials: Chocolate book.I got it at the library, fell in love with it, and after a few clicks on Amazon, it arrived at my door.Sweet.

Donna Hay suggests a layer of jam, cream, and/or berries in the center of two 9" sponge cakes. And that sounds real nice.But what do you do when you just bought a new jar of Nutella? You go with Nutella. No questions asked.

I sliced some California strawberries. Yum.

The only thing missing is a nice layer of whipped cream. I tried! I put the bowl and whisk in the freezer and was all ready. Reached into the fridge. And pulled out an expired carton of whipped cream.

Drats.

So, when you make this...include the layer of Nutella and add a layer of sweetened whipped cream.

Looks so gorgeous and yum! Those are some of my favourite things in the world -- Nutella / chocolate, strawberries and Donna Hay! When I was living in Australia, I had one of her cookbooks and it saved me a lot of headaches with daily meals and such.

the exact same thing happened to me on father's day, i knew i had heavy cream but it just went and expired on me :( i have two cook books i've borrowed from the library right now, trying to decide if they are worth the purchase :) cake looks great!

I totally agree about borrowing cookbooks from the library. It's the best! If I make at least half a dozen recipes and it turns out well, I buy the book. In Lexington, we can check out a book for a month and renew it twice so I've been guilty of keeping cookbooks for 3 months!

Nutella...yum...that sounds great. I have seen Donna Hay on TV last time I was in Korea and she is fabulous. I think she has a magazine too..they always have it in cool airport magazine stands...hmm...must borrow soon...

Mmm this sounds like a delicious dessert. I agree that taking books out of the library is a great way to see if you'll like the cookbook or not. Unfortunately I've purchased some cookbooks from Amazon, having never seen them before, and I've barely (or not even) cooked/baked from them.

Tiny tip! Most dairy products with a higher fat content are good to use a few days after the expiry date. Of course give it a sniff and small taste test, but in my experiences I've gotten away with 3 days past due.